Despite some camera issues and cheap boss fights, this is a worthy retelling of a series from a rail-gun perspective.
Operation Javier is the story on how Leon S. Kennedy and future RE4 nemesis Jack Krauser worked for the first and only time together. In South America, Leon and Krauser are battling a hoard of zombies in search for the drug lord, Javier Hidalgo, who may have something to do on why the Veronica virus is spreading in those lands. You'll meet a girl, Manuela (no Spanish jokes on that name, please :]), who holds the key to their mission and some eerie details behind her story. If you beat the final boss in under ten minutes, you'll unlock "new" chapters replaying the final two, but under Krauser's viewpoint with some of his thinking commentary on why he became Leon's enemy in Resident Evil 4.
Resident Evil 2 is known as Memories of a Lost City. If you are familiar with the original game, you'll notice that there are some tweaks to the original story for the purposes of co-op play (whether with a human or a computer player). Some purists may cry foul on that change, but those changes are not very significant. You can play as either Claire Redfield or Leon S. Kennedy.
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X is known as Game of Oblivion. Like Memories of a Lost City, there are some noticeable changes to the original story, but are not very dramatic. The voice acting and the dialogue, however, are much more improved than the original. The cut scenes do look very nice, perhaps up to par with their HD console competitors. You can play as either Claire Redfield or Steven Burnside. Chris Redfield is playable in the final chapter.
The biggest issue I have with the game is the boss battles. More often than not, you're completely obligated to view some between-the-battle cut scenes even though the boss's health meter is down to zero. What's even more annoying is that the bosses at times don't receive damage even though it is the exact weak spot of those particular bosses. Note to Capcom: once the boss's meter is down to zero, that boss is dead, period; no cheap cut scenes or inconsistent hit points. Again not only is that method completely cheap, but also completely unfair.
The camera angle will take some time to get used to since it is a rail-gun shooter, but it is really difficult to make headshots since they are essential to receive S rankings on your final score. S rankings help you unlock certain information about the characters, items, achievements, phone conversations, etc. You are also free to blast just about anything especially windows, books, vases, any stuff in the environment that looks breakable for you to pick up gold, ammo, and Umbrella logo (for "important" information). You can use the gold to power-up your weapons after completing each stage.
Your AI partner in the game is completely useless, but then again, the enemies don't do much damage to them, only you. A friend, however, can team up with you either locally or online making the experience of having a partner better. You can compete with other people online on how high the score is for each stage completed.
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is really a Cliffs Notes version of the two Resident Evil storylines, with Operation Javier being a nice extra. The game is much more story oriented and is much more fast paced than the originals. There is also a huge replay value since you can play the completed stages again with more upgraded weapons. If you haven't really played the original games and are much more interested in shooting aspects of any game, then this version is for you.